


Finding the Hypotenuse of a Love Triangle

by oblivionbarnes



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angry Bruce Banner, Love Confessions, M/M, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Oneshot, Past Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Protective Bruce Banner, Science Bros, i love pepper though don’t get me wrong, pepper is lowkey the villain, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-02 20:37:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16312289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oblivionbarnes/pseuds/oblivionbarnes
Summary: Bruce Banner is a typical high-school nerd with a crush. When his physics teacher assigns a new project for the class to work on, the last thing he expects is to be put in a group with the exact guy he likes— and his ex-girlfriend, unfortunately.





	Finding the Hypotenuse of a Love Triangle

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in a high school universe where all the Marvel characters go to school, if that makes sense. No powers, no magic. Just normal high school.  
> Bruce is a nerd, and Tony is a jock. I took the cliche route.  
> Also, I see Pepper in no way as a villain. I love her character. Please don't assume I hate her based on how I portray her in this, I just needed conflict.

Bruce knew it wouldn't work out.

Tony wasn't interested in guys. Though he wasn't very interested in girls either, considering how many of his girlfriends broke up with him. But Bruce knew that if he asked Tony out, he would get flat out rejected.

And even if Tony somehow liked guys, what would make him like Bruce out of all people? Bruce was a complete geek. He was president of the Physics Club and had won numerous science competitions. Tony didn't care about science at all. He was on the football team, with Steve and Thor and the rest of those jocks.

"It's just pointless," Bruce sighed to his friend, Natasha. They were sitting together at a lunch table, all alone. "There's no way we could ever get together."

"Well, this sure won't bring your hopes up, but I heard that Tony's ex, Pepper, is interested in him again," she replied with a frown. Bruce shook his head.

"God, I feel so bad for him. They just like toying with his emotions."

Natasha ate a spoonful of whatever soup was for lunch that day. Even Bruce wasn't sure. "She's probably going to dump him again, if they get back together. I wonder if his bad luck with girls will change something in him," she said.

"No, that's not how it works," Bruce rolled his eyes. "You don't just turn gay from being dumped too much."

"Well, we can only hope for you," she snickered. As she finished, the bell rang.

"What class do you have next?" Natasha asked as they walked out of the cafeteria.

"Physics," replied Bruce, rather cheerfully. Physics was his favorite class, of course, and not only because of how much he enjoyed the subject.

_It's my only class with Tony!_ he thought as he left Natasha and walked down the hallway. Opening the door to the physics classroom, he sat down at his desk and looked around.

Tony was sitting in the front row, right by the teacher's desk. He was moved for disruptive behavior, to his annoyance, but Bruce didn't mind it at all. Now, he had a full view of Tony.

When all the students filtered in, their teacher stood up from his desk. "Good afternoon, class. Does anyone remember what I mentioned last class regarding your grades?"

There was dead silence. The teacher chuckled.  
"Well, if you forget, I talked about how low your grades are. While I have some students excelling," he glanced at Bruce, "The lowest grade in this class is a 45."

Another classmate, Clint, snorted from the back row. "Yep, that's me."

Bruce shifted rather uncomfortably. He had the highest grade in the class— a 115 with his bonus points, so he felt a little guilty.

"I'm assuming that you all want to raise your grades, yes?" the teacher asked. The students of the classroom all nodded.

"Well here's my proposition. You will work on a project with two partners. And before you go off to choose them now—" he glared at the kids who already were out of their seats to sit with their friends, "They will not be chosen by you. They will be chosen by random."

The classroom groaned. Nobody wanted to work without their friends. Though Bruce was more than grateful, as he had none in the class.

"I've put your names into a hat," he sad, picking it up from his desk. "Whoever you are paired with are your partners. No changes, no trades. It's final. You understand? Good, let's begin."

He dipped his hand into the hat and pulled out a name. "Steve, Sam, and..."  
He pulled out another. "Clint."

"Oh yeah," Clint laughed and high-fived the two, who were sitting next to him. _They're going to fail_ , Bruce thought without remorse.

"Peter Q., Jane, and... Logan," the teacher said next. The three looked and each other and nodded.

A couple more names passed before Bruce's name was pulled. Heart beating, he waited to hear his partners.

"Bruce, Pepper, and...Tony," the teacher said. "You'll be working together."

_Wait, what?_ Bruce's heart pounded now. He looked over at Tony, who smiled back. Pepper also glanced over, smiling as well.

_Is this real?_ he thought. He hadn't been prepared for being partners with Tony, since there was only a 0.5% chance they would be chosen together in a group.  
 _It seemed impossible..._

Taking a breath, he steadied his heart as the rest of his class was called.  
 _But Pepper... Natasha said she likes Tony again..._ Bruce sighed.

When everyone finished, the teacher nodded.  
"Alright, so, this project will be a couple weeks long. You will have to work outside of school on this. And you want to know the fun part about it?" the teacher grinned. "You get to find a physics project to do. It's all your choice, so you can't complain to me about how boring it is. It could be incredibly fun. You can do whatever you want so long as it relates to physics."

Now _this_ got Bruce excited. He had dozens of ideas of science projects that he wanted to do. _But with Tony and Pepper..._

"I recommend meeting after school today to start picking out a project. Now, any questions? No? Good, let's carry on."

While the rest of class was continuing, Bruce couldn't pay attention, not that he needed to, of course. _I still can't believe it..._  
Suddenly, the bell rang after an hour. The class stood up and packed their bags, Bruce doing the same. But a person from the corner of his eye began to walk towards him. Turning around, Bruce started to breathe heavily.

"Hey," Tony smiled. Bruce nodded back, "Hey."

"So, would you like to come to my place after school to work on the project?" asked Tony. "It's not that far, so we could walk."

_God_ , Bruce tried to keep his face from turning red. If Natasha saw him, she would probably cry from laughter. "Yeah, sure. That's fine."

"Alright," Tony replied. "I asked Pepper already, who said sure. Now, I have to go get something from my locker, then. I'll meet you out front."

Bruce nodded, and Tony walked off. After waiting a few seconds, Bruce hurried out of the classroom, towards Natasha's locker.

"Natasha," he hissed and leaned a hand against the locker in front of him, "My God, you won't believe what happened."

"What?" she asked, confused by Bruce's sudden excitement.

"We have a physics project," he started, and Natasha rolled her eyes.

"But wait!" he whispered, "It's a partner project. We're assigned partners. And guess who I was assigned with!"

"I wonder who could've gotten you this excited. Let me guess, Clint and Peter Q.? I feel bad for you if so, they never work," she replied.

"Yeah, absolutely. No, it's Tony! And Pepper! And we're meeting after school to work on it! I can't decide if I'm lucky or not!"

"Well, I say good job," she laughed. "Don't screw up. Just leave Pepper alone, I really don't think Tony would care about his ex, considering what drove them apart. And if anything intimate happens between you and him, don't forget to use protection."

Bruce blushed. "Oh, shut up. Now, I have to go to the front and meet up with them. See you tomorrow!"

Running off, he made his way to the school's front steps and saw Tony waiting in the front. Nervously, he walked over.

"Sorry if I was kind of late, I had to get something too," he huffed. Tony waved it off.  
"It's fine, doesn't matter."

Pepper came right after, and nodded at the two. "Hey," she said, mainly directed towards Tony. He nodded back, not saying a word in greeting.

"Now let's go, my house is this way."  
He led the two across the street, and they began to walk in the direction Tony's house was in. Bruce was silent, his face burning.

"We sure are lucky to have been paired with you, Bruce. You're the best in the class. What's your grade again?" asked Tony.

"Uh, a 115," Bruce blushed.

"Wow, okay, fuck you. You're so smart, it's unfair. I have a 94, which is acceptable, I guess. But you're just ahead of everyone," Tony scoffed. Bruce didn't know whether to be offended or proud. "Thanks?"

Tony just chuckled in reply. Pepper remained silent.

"Anyways, I'm expecting that you're going to want to do a big project, right? And you, Pepper?" He turned towards her. She nodded, and Bruce did as well.

"So any ideas?"

"Aren't we deciding that when we get to your house?" replied Pepper.

"Well, yeah, but it's good to brainstorm."

"I think we should build a functioning rocket," Bruce suggested. "That would be fun."

Tony nodded. "That's a good idea. Thanks for the input, Bruce," he said, slightly annoyed at Pepper.

_Does she really still like him?_ Bruce wondered. She seemed to hate him, and the same went for Tony.  
The three soon arrived at Tony's house, which Bruce gaped at when they went in. The house was huge, with fancy furniture and computers.

"Your house is... Just, wow..." he stammered, blushing a little. Tony laughed a bit.

"I guess. My parents were loaded, so that's why.”

"Welcome back, Tony," a man greeted as he walked in from another room. "I see you've brought friends over?"

"Yeah, we're working on a project. This is Bruce, and... you've met Pepper. Bruce, this is Jarvis. He used to be our household servant until my parents died. Now he's my legal guardian."

"Nice to meet you," Bruce meekly replied.

"We're going to be working out in the living room, if that's fine," said Tony.  
Jarvis nodded. “If you need anything, let me know. I'll be in the kitchen."  
The man walked off. Tony, Bruce, and Pepper all went into the living room.

"So, physics projects," Tony clapped his hands together. "Ideas? I know you suggested a rocket," he told Bruce. "Does that sound alright?"

"That sounds a little complicated. What would the goal of building the rocket be?" Pepper chimed in. Tony shrugged.

"Well, that could be the goal itself. We could make it out of trash or junk?" Bruce suggested.

"That sounds... complicated," nodded Tony. "But fun. It would be exciting to test."

"I'm not too fond of digging through trash," sighed Pepper, "But hey, you guys are in charge. Let's do it, then."

Tony glared at Pepper for a second before clearing his throat. "Alright, then that's the plan?”

Bruce nodded, with Pepper slowly behind. "Well, how should we do this?" she asked.

"Wait, isn't building rockets illegal?" Tony asked. Bruce shook his head.

"Not here. In some places, though."

"That's good to confirm, then. So, a real rocket? Or just a cheap one?"

"I'm thinking about a real one. That would be impressive," replied Bruce. "Though we'd need some materials..."

"I got them covered. My shed has a shitload of tools, and I can easily buy stuff," said Tony. "What would we need?"

"Well," Bruce pondered, "Some graphite for the nozzle, a lathe, drill bits, cone cutters, a motor, a saw, a drill, copper..." he paused. "A lot of stuff."

"Well, I'm sure we can get all that," nodded Tony. He turned to Pepper, "Do you think it's alright?"

"Sure, yeah, you guys are in charge clearly. I have no control, apparently."

"Why are you being like this?" Tony snapped. "I get that you hate me, and that's fine. But we're actually trying to work here."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you were actually looking forward to working with your ex. I don't see any work going on, either, just your 'I'm always the boss' rambling," she hissed back. Bruce sunk back in his seat, not knowing what to say.

"Have you considered that I'm speaking so much only because you won't say a damn thing? Maybe if you contributed, you'd get to be boss, like you always want to be," Tony argued back.

"Me? Always boss? The only reason I probably seemed 'bossy' was because I was putting you in your goddamn place for once. You and your huge ego just blames your problems on others all the time."

"If I'm so 'bossy' then why were you the one to consistently run my life like my own mother? All the time, you controlled me. 'Tony, do this.' 'Tony, do that.' That doesn't quite seem like putting me in my place."

Their pointless arguing went on for a few more minutes. Soon enough, Bruce was done with all of this.  
"Oh my god," he fumed, "Just stop. Stop all of this. We came here to work on our project, not to have a domestic squabble. Pepper, there's no reason for you to be such an asshole to Tony right now. Stop blaming him for your refusal to cooperate. Just because he's your ex doesn't mean you have to be so difficult, I swear to God." His eyes flashed green with anger. "I know what happened in your last relationship. You literally used him for his money. Don't deny it, because I know it's true. I literally heard you talking about it in the hallway. You've just been so unfair to him. Could you please sit down and work with us, for once?"

Pepper inhaled, shaking. "I..." She adjusted her posture. After a few seconds of silence, she calmly stood up and walked over to the door. Opening it, she glanced at Bruce before leaving, slamming it on the way out.

Bruce leaned back into his chair and put his face into his hands. Tony was speechless.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..." Bruce's voice broke. "I don't know..." he mumbled.

"No, I'm... I'm glad you said that." Tony moved over to Bruce. "She and I weren't good together. I didn't know that... she used me... But I'm glad I know now. You're fine."

Bruce shook his head as he began to cry. "I'm just really embarrassed now... I say too much when I'm angry. I hope she won't start talking about me at school... and what about our project..."

"We don't need to worry about that. I'll figure it out," assured Tony. He sighed, "I don't even know what I saw in her, honestly. Nor what she saw in me. We're both assholes."

"No, you're not," said Bruce. He looked up at Tony. "Well, you can sometimes be one, but you're personally not. You always care for others. You make others laugh, and you defend those you care about."  
Bashful, he turned away. Tony chuckled. 

"You're really sweet, you know that?"

Bruce's heart beat faster. "I'm just being honest."

The two remained silent for a minute, until Bruce sighed. "I guess I'll go, if a third of our team just quit on us."

"You don't need to, I mean, we could just work together," suggested Tony.

"How? Pepper'll just complain—"

"Pepper doesn't matter," Tony spat. "We can work without her."

Bruce hesitated. "Why do you hate her that much? I mean, I know I argued with her... but I don't hate her."

"Did you ever hear why we broke up? It wasn’t…the money thing." asked Tony. When Bruce shook his head, Tony inhaled.

"It's because she forced me to come out to her. As bisexual. And for some reason, she couldn't accept that, even though I'm still attracted to girls."

"That's bullshit," Bruce stammered in disbelief. _Bisexual? This means..._

"Yeah, it is. I'm glad you understand that. You're actually the second one I told so I'd... appreciate it if you wouldn't really tell anyone."

"I won't," Bruce assured him. "I get it, you're not out of the closet. It's fine."

His face was red with excitement. _He's bisexual... I can't believe this..._

"When did you realize this?" he asked. Tony shrugged. "Probably around a year ago."

"So you haven't dated any other guys yet," Bruce pointed out. Tony shook his head.

"I'm worried to confess. Like, if they aren't gay or bisexual either, I'm worried it'll just make them uncomfortable."

"Yeah, I get it," replied Bruce. _I thought that way about you..._

"How would you even confess to them? It's all just scary," Tony shook his head. Bruce shrugged, though he already knew the exact words he would say. He recited it in his head so many times.

"Probably something along the lines of, 'Hey, I don't mean to sound weird, but please hear me out. I don't know if you're gay or bisexual, but I just want you to know that I like you. More than a friend. And I'm sorry if this creeps you out, but it would be nice to hear your reply. Would you go out with me?'"

Tony laughed. "Yeah, that would work," he leaned a little closer to Bruce. "How do you even know what to say, anyways?"

"I—" Bruce turned red. He faced away, not wanting Tony to see.

"Look," he stammered and turned around, "Tony, I—"

He was interrupted when Tony pressed their faces together in a kiss. Startled, Bruce almost fell back. When Tony backed away, Bruce's face was burning.

"I wonder who you were saving that confession for," he laughed. Bruce, still shocked, looked up at Tony.

"Why... was I—"

"Not discreet at all about it. I've been able to tell all this time," smirked Tony. Bruce's heart pounded, and he hid his face in embarrassment.

"I was surprised at first, but I began to fall for you, I guess. Though I'm better at hiding my feelings, I'd say."

Bruce nodded. "Yeah..."

Tony smiled at the other boy. "So, how did you put it? 'I like you, more than a friend. Would you go out with me?'"

Bruce wasn't sure what to reply. "I— Tony, yes. But what— will this affect our project? What about Pepper—"

"Do you really only care about the project?" chuckled Tony. "Pepper will deal with it if she wants a good grade. But can we just forget it for now? It's not due for a couple weeks. And I want to learn more about you, now."

Bruce laughed a bit. "Alright, sure. So, what do you want to know?"

The two went on and on there, just talking for a few hours. When night came, Bruce left Tony's house feeling better than he ever had in his life. Texting Natasha, he smiled at her reply to what happened.

"Go get him, tiger," it read. Laughing, He sent back his reply. "I will."


End file.
